The act of pirating PC games has always been a problem. Lionhead’s Mike West claims that “the longest it’s taken to happen is two days. Someone will crack it somewhere, and there’s not much you can do about it.”
In the case of the Microsoft-owned studio, Xbox 360 sales of Fable III have more than made up for the cost of developing both the Xbox 360 and PC versions of the game. “For us, it’s probably a no-lose, even with piracy as it is.” exclaimed West. “Second-hand sales cost us more in the long-run than piracy these days.”
While publishers have worked to make it worthwhile to buy new, such as one-time usable codes for additional content or even online multiplayer, the pre-owned game market has grown beyond specialty stores like GameStop. Retailers like Amazon and Wal-Mart have buy-back programs. And not a single cent is sent on to the developers or publishers of the games.
I for one am happy to shell out the extra cash for a new game. GameStop generally sells recently released games for $5 less than their new counterparts. When companies such as EA require second-hand buyers pay an additional $10 for their multiplayer or downloadable content (such as Mass Effect 2’s Cerberus Network), it’s actually more cost-effective to buy it new.
What say you, our faithful readers? Do you buy new or used? And why?
[Source: Eurogamer]
